13th October Silly Sayings Day

Silly Sayings Day is a day to celebrate and use humorous and metaphorical expressions, often referred to as idioms or colloquialisms. Idioms, adages, and proverbs are common expressions and sayings that have meanings beyond what can be understood by their individual words. 

idiom: a group of words established by usage as having a meaning not deducible from those of the individual words (e.g. over the moon, see the light ).

adage: a proverb or short statement expressing a general truth. 'out of sight, out of mind'.

proverb: a short, well-known pithy saying, stating a general truth or piece of advice.

Modern English language is loaded with idioms. We use common idioms every day, often without giving them a second thought. Consider these common phrases; “Don’t spill the beans,” “You’re barking up the wrong tree,” “Every cloud has a silver lining,” or “It’s not my cup of tea.”

However, for young children, multilingual learners, and neurodiverse learners, idioms can be very difficult. 

Idioms are a form of figurative language. Many picture books that make children laugh as they read use idioms. Tedd Arnold's Parts Trilogy of books is a good example of this.

Other books to look for:

And this amazing book might be in a library near you. 

1st February Blue Moon

Recently some of us had the experience of seeing a blue moon. It is not something I thought much about, but was surprised by the number of requests for books about a blue moon. I could find small amounts in books about the moon, but very quickly realised the best place to look was on the web at sites like the ABC. However it was a good excuse to talk about the adage 'once in a blue moon' and what it means and I discovered three fiction titles that helped support the concept.